Ex-officio chairperson still to convene meet of planning panel to chalk out action plan
MARGAO
Have the Constitutionally-mandated District Planning Committee (DPC) for South Goa prepared any draft development plan for South district after obtaining development plans from the panchayat and municipal bodies?
It’s exactly 10 months since the South Goa Zilla Panchayat office had assumed office under the leadership of Chairperson, Suvarna Tendulkar on January 8. As per the rules in force, the ZP had constituted the District Planning Committee (DPC) for South with members from the Zilla Panchayat.
However, leave alone putting the district draft development plan in place, members of the DPC headed by ex-officio Chairperson Tendulkar has not met even once since the government had notified the Planning Panel on July 22 last.
In August last, when The Goan had called up Panchayat Director Siddhi Halarnkar to shed light on the functioning of the District Planning Committees in the State, she was candid in informing that her office has told the Member Secretary of the South Goa DPC to call a meeting of the panel after Ganesh Chathurti and chalk out the action plan to prepare the draft development plan.
After Ganesh Chathurti came Diwali and there’s still no sign of the DPC even convening a meeting of the members, including the MLAs and MPs from the district till date.
When The Goan called up DPC Member Secretary G Kuttikar to shed light on the status of the DPC, he said he wanted to first have a training programme for the DPC members conducted by the Goa Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development (GIPARD) before convening a meeting of the planning panel.
“I wanted GIPARD to hold a training session for the DPC members so that the members are made abreast of the role of the DPC and how the panel should go about preparing the draft plan after consolidating the plans received from the panchayat and municipal bodies,” Kuttikar said.
Members of the DPC, however, demand to know why a single meeting of the planning body has not been convened till date, wondering whether the DPC would meet the same fate like in the last. “We appreciate the idea of the Member Secretary to hold a training programme for the DPC member by GIPARD. But, it is indeed surprising that no meeting of the Planning panel, set up under the Constitution of India has taken place till date,” remarked a member.
The member added: “A meeting of the district planning body would have given the members an insight into the functioning of the panel and the problems and difficulties faced by the panel in the past in consolidating the plans received from the Zilla Panchayat, Panchayat and Municipal bodies before preparing the draft development plan.”
The Constitution has envisaged a clear role for the District Planning Committees in the planning process. While preparing the draft development plan, the DPC should have regard to the matters of common interest between the Zilla Panchayats, Panchayats and Municipal Councils in the district including spatial planning, sharing of water and other physical and natural resources, the integrated development of infrastructures and environmental conservation; the extent and type of available resources, whether financial or otherwise.
Says convenor of Goa Panchayati Raj Institutions, J Santan Rodrigues: “It’s indeed sad that even a meeting of the DPC has not taken place after its notification four months ago. Successive governments have failed to take the DPCs and the planning process to its logical conclusion. Hope better sense prevails and the South Goa takes forward the planning work.”
Shocking! Permanent invitees MPs, MLAs are quiet over not meeting of DPC to date
MARGAO: Why are the MPs, who are members of the DPC and the MLAs from South district, all permanent invitees to the Planning Panel, quiet over the fact that no meeting of the South Goa DPC has been called till date?
A glance at the notification issued by Panchayat Director, Siddhi Halarnkar states that the South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha and the Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar are members of the panel. All the members of the Legislative Assembly whose constituencies lie within the South Goa district are the permanent invitees.
Last time around, a couple of MLAs from South Goa had attended a meeting of the District Planning Committee on January 8, 2020 during the tenure of the outgoing DPC.
Of the 21 MLAs from South Goa, Power Minister Nilesh Cabral, MLAs Vijai Sardesai, Reginaldo Lourenco, Prasad Gaonkar were the MLAs who had attended the January 8, 2020 meeting convened at the initiative of the then DPC Member Secretary Agnelo Fernandes.
